New brands flock to Target’s post-Ulta beauty section

The full list of brands is available on Target’s website, from Eqqualberry and First Aid Beauty in skin care to Joico and Nioxin in hair care to Mexican beauty brand Sarelly and French nail-care brand Manacurist, and many more. This is the latest change to Target’s assortment and shopping experience that it hopes will help spur a return to long-term financial growth.

Several brands told Modern Retail that the Beauty Studio convinced them to sell to Target for the first time because of its curated, experiential nature or because it was their first opportunity to enter the retailer. Multiple founders said they had to provide Target with materials for employee training, such as training videos and other documents detailing their products.

“We’re not just putting products on shelves; it’s a completely new environment where it’s really focused on beauty discovery and education and its own sales associates,” said Eliran Luzone, founder and CEO of Remilia Hair, which makes hair serum as well as shampoos and conditioners.

Luzone said he initially launched the brand in 2018, and it has since grown to seven figures on Amazon. This is its first brick-and-mortar retailer. He said he started talking to Target buyers close to two years ago, but they didn’t make any progress until they started preparing for the launch of the Beauty Studio. “For a brand like ours, I felt like it was extremely valuable,” he said.

The Beauty Studio will have rotating product features, such as “editors’ picks” and “most loved,” and a dedicated assortment of mini products to give shoppers an affordable way to discover new products, along with product-testing opportunities for some items. Employees called “beauty advisers” will offer personalized recommendations and product guidance. Shoppers will be able to receive exclusive offers through the Target Circle loyalty program, including during in-store events on Sept. 26 celebrating the launch.

“When guests shop for beauty, they want to pick up their standbys while also exploring what’s new and trending, and Target Beauty Studio is designed with that mix in mind,” Amanda Nusz, svp of merchandising, essentials and beauty for Target, said in a news release. “It’s an inspiring destination to discover what’s new, now and next in beauty — and a powerful example of how our merchandising authority comes to life through an elevated guest experience.”

Like Remilia Hair, Clearstem’s line of anti-acne and anti-aging skin-care products is also launching in brick-and-mortar for the first time through Target Beauty Studio. The brand launched quietly in 2017 with only one serum product. It has since developed into a more robust brand, with a complete skin-care kit, more staff and a third-party logistics partner. It reached $50 million in sales last year, co-founders Danielle Gronich and Kayleigh Christina told Modern Retail.

Gronich said Target approached the founders earlier this year as the buyers were Clearstem users themselves. “We had always put off a retail launch because we wanted to wait for the right partner,” Christina said. “We wanted to work with a team and buyers that had experienced transformation with Clearstem and really understood how much we can change people’s lives and skin through our products and education.”

Dawn Hilarczyk, chief operating officer of Borghese, a 70-year-old Italian skin-care brand, said her company was also attracted to the Beauty Studio because it was more than a product-on-shelf experience. “We could have done that at any mass retailer and/or any major retailer,” but Target offered more, she said. The brand is already in Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale’s, Ulta and Amazon.

Target will sell Borghese’s mud treatments, moisture intensifiers, moisturizer, and bath and shower gel, according to the brand.

Hilarczyk said she first met with Target about a year ago but that selling through the retailer has been a goal for her since joining the brand about two and a half years ago. “You can go to Target and get whatever you need personally, and, at the same time, get a great beauty product,” Hilarczyk said. “For Borghese, that’s how we were founded. We need to be accessible luxury skin care to everyone, and we want to be where the customer is. And she’s shopping at Target.”

The brand was up 38% in sales last year, according to Hilarczyk, and she expects revenue to grow 60% this year and potentially double that next year because of the Target launch. She declined to disclose any exact dollar figures. “Just the sheer volume of distribution already changes the trajectory of the company’s volume.”

In contrast with the decades-old skin-care brand, By the Beach Suncare is launching in the Beauty Studio within its first year of business. The brand, positioned as the first “fragrance-first” sun-care brand, only just launched in October of last year. The brand expects to reach $4 million in sales in the first year and has sold more than 250,000 units, Jessica Singer and Andrew Glass, co-founders of By the Beach Suncare, told Modern Retail.

“It’s so incredible to have such a big retailer have the guts to want to really showcase something that’s new and emerging,” Singer said.

Glass said she and Glass wanted to go to Target because of its new focus on independent brands and the ability to offer product testing in stores, as well as the creative freedom to design fixtures that represent the brand. “It was really important for us for the customer to be able to experience the product, especially since we are so new, before buying,” Glass said.

Laura Schubert and Lillian Tung, co-founders of Fur, launched the brand 10 years ago with body oil for pubic hair care and later added other body care products like cleansers, exfoliating treatments, and other products for ingrown hairs and skin irritation. The brand, which is also launching in Target for the first time, is female-run and self-funded with no outside investors. Fur makes between $10 million and $20 million in sales per year, according to Schubert.

Fur hadn’t previously tried to get into Target, but the founders now feel they have enough brand recognition and a strong enough team to make it work, and they were drawn to the dedicated beauty space, Tung said.

“You can’t get into things that you can’t support. If we didn’t feel like body-hair care and in-grown care have enough of a demand, we’re not going to put ourselves out there,” Tung said. “On top of that, Target Beauty Studio is the right mix. … It’s definitely catering to a more targeted customer, so it made sense for us at this point.”